The Philadelphia 76ers turned a night that looked lost into one of the early season's best comebacks on Wednesday, storming back from 13 points down in the fourth quarter to beat the Indiana Pacers 114-109 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Anfernee Simons came off the bench and changed the game in a matter of minutes, Tyrese Maxey finished it in the final 70 seconds, and a Philadelphia side that had not played away from home since its season-opening win in New York left Indiana with a fourth victory in five games.
For three quarters, the story had been Indiana's. The Pacers answered a 37-point Philadelphia second quarter with a 36-point third, built their lead through two separate surges, and carried a 13-point advantage into the final period. Then Simons hit a three-pointer 18 seconds into the fourth, and the game tilted so fast that the Pacers never got it back. Philadelphia outscored Indiana 39-21 in the last 12 minutes, a quarter that turned a comfortable home lead into a road win and left the Pacers with a second consecutive defeat.
The game swung violently, quarter by quarter, and the final swing was the biggest of all. Philadelphia exploded for 37 points in the second quarter, a burst that suggested the visitors would take control. Indiana responded in the third with 36 points of its own, built on two separate runs — a 17-0 flurry and a 13-2 burst — that turned a contest into a 13-point Pacers lead heading into the fourth.
What followed was a textbook road comeback. Simons buried a three-pointer 18 seconds into the fourth quarter, and Philadelphia kept coming. The 76ers ran off 26 of the period's first 34 points to move ahead 101-96 with 4 minutes 24 seconds remaining, a run in which Simons added another three-pointer, LeBron James added one from deep, and Joel Embiid completed a three-point play. The arena, which had been loud through Indiana's third-quarter surge, went quiet as the lead changed hands.
Indiana did not fold. Consecutive baskets from Pascal Siakam and Andrew Nembhard pulled the Pacers to within one point with 3 minutes 7 seconds to play, and the game stayed a one-score contest deep into the final 90 seconds. That was when Maxey, Philadelphia's leading scorer on the night, took over. He hit two three-pointers in the final 1 minute 10 seconds, the second of them effectively ending Indiana's hopes, and Philadelphia held on for a 114-109 victory.
The final numbers told the story of the fourth quarter as much as the full game. Philadelphia's 39 points in the last period were its best quarter of the night, while Indiana managed only 21 after scoring 36 in the third. The 18-point swing across those two quarters — from a 13-point Pacers lead to a five-point 76ers win — was the difference between a routine home victory and a statement road result.
Context made the comeback more striking. This was Philadelphia's first road game since its season-opening victory in New York, a long stretch at home that can leave a team rusty on the road. Instead, the 76ers showed the kind of composure that travels: a bench player changing the game, a star closing it, and a defence that finally got stops when the game demanded them.
Indiana, meanwhile, began the day with bad news. The Pacers learned earlier on Wednesday that Tyrese Haliburton, their floor general, could miss as much as two weeks because of a strained left hamstring. Losing a player of that importance on the morning of a game is a test of a team's depth and nerve, and for three quarters Indiana passed it impressively. Siakam and Nembhard carried the offence, the third-quarter runs were devastating, and the Pacers looked set to win without their star. The fourth quarter, though, exposed what Haliburton's absence can cost in the closing minutes, when a calm, organising presence matters most.
The result also continued two early-season trends. Philadelphia's victory was its fourth in five games, a start that puts the 76ers among the Eastern Conference's early pacesetters. Indiana's defeat was its second in a row, a slide that will feel harsher because the Pacers led by 13 points with a quarter to play and had the game in their hands.
Comebacks of this size are rarely about one shot, and this one was no exception. Simons' opening three of the fourth quarter mattered because of its timing as much as its value: 18 seconds in, before Indiana could settle into the defensive shape that had protected its lead. Once the first shot fell, Philadelphia's confidence grew with every possession, and the run — 26 of the first 34 points of the quarter — was built on a mix of outside shooting and physical play inside.
Embiid's contribution was central to that mix. His 21 points and 11 rebounds gave Philadelphia a double-double and a constant inside threat, and his three-point play during the run punished Indiana for fouling to stop the momentum. Around him, the scoring was spread: Maxey's 27 led the way, Simons added 20 off the bench, Jaylen Brown contributed 20 points and 10 rebounds, and James posted 13 points and 10 assists. That balance is what makes a comeback sustainable — when one player cools off, another is already hot.
Indiana's scoring, by contrast, leaned heavily on two players. Siakam finished with 26 points and 11 rebounds, a double-double that kept the Pacers in front for most of the night, while Nembhard added 18 points and 14 assists, running the offence in Haliburton's absence. Aaron Nesmith scored 18, Kelly Oubre Jr. added 15 and Obi Toppin chipped in 13, but in the fourth quarter the Pacers' offence stalled at exactly the wrong time, managing only 21 points after the 36-point third.
The defensive shift was just as important as the shooting. Philadelphia, which had conceded two huge Indiana runs in the third quarter, finally strung together consecutive stops in the fourth. Indiana's 17-0 and 13-2 surges in the third had been built on turnovers and transition baskets; in the fourth, Philadelphia protected the ball better, forced Indiana into half-court sets, and made the Pacers beat a set defence. They could not, often enough, and the lead disappeared.
The game report from Field Level Media, carried by Reuters, captured the turning point in plain terms: Simons "ignited a deficit-erasing, fourth-quarter run" as Philadelphia "overtook" Indiana, and Maxey "secured Philadelphia's fourth win in five games with a pair of three-pointers in the final 1:10". Those two sentences are, in effect, the whole game — a bench spark, then a star finish.
There was no shortage of subplots for either bench to chew over. For Philadelphia, the road test passed: a first away game in weeks, a 13-point hole, and a win built on depth rather than one hot hand. For Indiana, the question is Haliburton's hamstring. A two-week absence would cover several games, and while Nembhard's 18 points and 14 assists showed the Pacers can function without their star, the closing minutes against Philadelphia showed how much they miss his control when a game tightens.
Pacers supporters will also note the cruelty of the timing. Indiana had answered Philadelphia's best quarter with an even better one, had led by 13, and had fought back to within one point with just over three minutes left. To lose from there, at home, will sting — but the third-quarter performance, and the way Siakam and Nembhard shouldered the load, gives Indiana something real to build on while Haliburton recovers.
Early-season games are often dismissed as too soon to matter, but comebacks like this one reveal character that shows up again in April and May. Philadelphia learned it can win on the road after a long homestand, that its bench can rescue a game, and that Maxey can close one. Those are not small lessons. A team that wins its fourth game in five outings, and does so from 13 points down in the fourth quarter on the road, has earned the right to be taken seriously as a conference contender.
For Indiana, the defeat matters in a different way. Losing Haliburton for up to two weeks is a genuine blow, and the Pacers now face a stretch in which they must prove their depth is more than a one-night story. The third quarter against Philadelphia was proof of concept; the fourth was a warning. If Indiana is to stay in the playoff picture while its star recovers, it must find a way to close games without him — the very thing it could not do on Wednesday night.
There is also a wider point about the NBA's early season. The Eastern Conference already looks crowded, with several teams trading wins and no one running away from the pack. Results like this — a road team erasing a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit — are the ones that separate the top four from the chasing pack by season's end, because they bank wins that most teams would have conceded.
Philadelphia will look to carry the momentum of this comeback into its next outing, with the confidence of a bench unit that has now proved it can change a game and a closing unit built around Maxey's late shooting. The 76ers' challenge now is consistency: turning a spectacular fourth quarter into four solid quarters, and proving that a first road win since the season opener was the start of a run rather than a one-off.
Indiana's immediate priority is Haliburton's hamstring. The Pacers will monitor his recovery day by day, and his status will shape their rotation and their expectations for the next two weeks. In the meantime, Nembhard's performance as the primary playmaker — 18 points and 14 assists against Philadelphia — offers a template, and Siakam's 26-point, 11-rebound night shows the Pacers still have a frontcourt star capable of carrying an offence.
Both teams will also study the film of the fourth quarter closely. Philadelphia will want to bottle the defensive intensity and ball movement that produced 39 points; Indiana will want to understand how a 13-point lead, built on two devastating third-quarter runs, evaporated so quickly. The rematch, whenever it comes, will be shaped by what each side learns from those 12 minutes.
The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Indiana Pacers 114-109 on Wednesday night, October 28, 2026, in Indianapolis.
Philadelphia trailed 88-75 entering the fourth quarter — a 13-point deficit — before outscoring Indiana 39-21 in the final period to win by five points.
Tyrese Maxey led Philadelphia with 27 points, including two three-pointers in the final 1 minute 10 seconds. Anfernee Simons scored 20 points off the bench, Joel Embiid had 21 points and 11 rebounds, Jaylen Brown added 20 points and 10 rebounds, and LeBron James posted 13 points and 10 assists.
Pascal Siakam scored 26 points with 11 rebounds, Andrew Nembhard added 18 points and 14 assists, Aaron Nesmith scored 18, Kelly Oubre Jr. had 15 and Obi Toppin finished with 13.
Indiana learned earlier on Wednesday that Haliburton could miss as much as two weeks because of a strained left hamstring.
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